Comic Book Stores That Settle: Part II
A little over a year ago (January 2023, to be precise), I published a post about my “local comic shop,” New England Comics in Harvard Square, closing down. Here it is:
It was semi-life-changing, because it meant the end of an era for the store, but also for me because I shifted to ordering my comics through the mail instead of making a weekly sojourn to a store. My prediction was that I would end up ordering things that I didn’t want and remain subscribed to books that I didn’t like anymore just because I would forget to cancel or whatever, but none of that has happened. I think I have doubled-up or gotten something by mistake only a couple times, so I consider that a win. And everyone likes getting packages!
The result of this switch is that I have only stepped into a comic book store a couple times over the last year, which is probably a record for my life, but I’m ok with that. Getting them in the mail every few weeks is good for my psyche. When I would make the weekly trip, I would feel the need to read all the comics I would buy in that week, because otherwise the “Unread” pile would get out of hand, and I would feel like a bad comic book guy. I also cut back a few titles when I made the switch, and now have more time to read things I actually want to read, rather than feel pressured to read what just came out because, well, it was there. I read the 12-issue run of Squadron Supreme last year, which I enjoyed as a kid and was happy to discover that I still did.
I realize that the psychology of reading comics is not a real thing to everyone, but this is how we fanboys think sometimes. It’s sometimes a tricky balance between supporting the industry, the store, your favorite creators, and also serving your own personal enjoyment (and wallet.) I have attained a place of Zen when it comes to this stuff. I read new comics when I want, and when I don’t, I read old comics. If I want to, I read an actual book, and I’ll just watch Bob’s Burgers if I feel like doing that. I’m almost fifty years-old, for Christ’s sake. I’ll spend my free time how I want.
But there are always consequences. I have learned that my actual favorite comic store, The New England Comics in Coolidge Corner (Brookline), the one that I went to weekly for about a decade, is closing as well, and for the same reasons the Harvard one did: high rent and lack of customer foot traffic. I don’t mean “consequences” because my meager business would have kept them open. But the consequences for me personally are that now, I will never be able to go back. I know it’s just a store, but it was a store I spent a good amount of time in. It was the first store that offered to put my own comic on the shelves (and actually sold a couple). I actually had multiple in-store signings there in my comic self-publishing days.
Perhaps most importantly, when I had a job in the area and would go out drinking with coworkers after work, I would stagger in on a Friday just to say hello, and there was no other store, comic or otherwise, that would have welcomed me in that condition. But I didn’t just do it because I was drunk. I would often stop in while I was sober, too, just to say hi. Not only were they a couple doors down from my favorite pizza place, but I considered most of the employees friends, so it wasn’t hard. But it was the only comic store that’s ever been the case, and it may never happen again.
Because I have an issue with second hand awkwardness, and people in general, a trip to the comic store could sometimes be a cause of consternation for me, depending on who else was in the store. Usually, my Coolidge Corner store was relatively quiet, but occasionally, there was a fellow customer who wanted to chat about the comings and goings of certain Marvel characters. Despite the fact that we shared this common interest, I almost never wanted to talk to these people. It wasn’t just the embarrassment I would feel about being a comic book geek,... well, ok, that was 90% of it. The other 10% is that I just don’t like talking to strangers. This is why I would talk about comics behind the veil of a podcast. And why it was a podcast that almost nobody listened to. The passion was starting to wane a little. (Incidentally, the podcast is still going. We just don’t really talk about comics anymore. So you can listen now!) One of the reasons I liked the employees at the Coolidge Corner store so much was that I could talk about other things, like what was playing at the independent theater down the street, or what we were drinking that night.
This really is all to say that I have had a somewhat complicated relationship with my comic book fandom over the years. And as cool as it was when the Marvel Cinematic Universe became popular and people suddenly knew who all these characters were, it wasn’t really the coming-out-of-the-closet moment that you would expect. By that point, I was already in my thirties, and it wasn’t that big a deal anymore (because nothing was). Also, as I mentioned in my eBay post back in December, I have probably sold more comics than I have bought over the last couple years. Add to that all my stores closing their doors, it seemed like the universe was trying to tell me something.
Basically to stop worrying and enjoy the comics.
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